Let the TAPER begin....

For those who are new to Triathlon or racing in general you may not know the term "TAPER". Basically it means a period of time before the race that you reduce your workload to prepare physically and mentally for the race.

Depending on the length of your race determines how long your taper is...For an Ironman it can be anywhere from 2-4 weeks before your race..
My Taper is about 2.5 weeks...
This week I still had some longer workouts but they gradually reduced...this week I will have the same number of workouts I normally do the main difference is the volume is less....BUT the intensity will stay the same...

So you would think that this would be a nice easy 2 weeks before the race....well it is actually quite different...TAPERING is VERY challenging!
Yes you get a break from the long gruleing workouts but there is so much more in play.

At this point after 9 months of training physically you should be ready to do the race....the training is there...BUT...mentally it is time to prepare.

Taking your training down from 6-8 hour workouts to just 1-2 hours is hard...you think you need to do more...you doubt yourself...you think if I slowdown will I be able to do this??
You start to think about every aspect of the race now.....I think about each transition....how will I feel?...

2 weeks today I will be doing Ironman....it is crazy to think I have come this far...

So what will this next 2 weeks look like for my TAPER..
I will follow each workout laid out for me and know that even though the volume is down I need to keep my intensity up and focus on recovery from each workout.

I will stretch, I will ICE and I plan to get as much sleep as I can :-)
I also plan to focus on my nutrition...Eating as clean as I can....do sugar...no booze and limit caffeine intake...

So that is my plan.....People ask me "are you excited?"....hmmm....not sure if I am excited.....I think when I get there it will hit me....for now I will stay focused and take it one day at a time :-)

Plan for this week:

Monday: 1 hour interval swim/1 hour threshold run
Tuesday- Spin 1 hour
Wednesday- 30 km bike
Thursday- 1 hour steady run
Friday- rest
Saturday or Sunday- Brick (10 km bike/5km run)